1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to handheld electronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronic device having facilitated data input. The invention also relates to a method for facilitating input to a handheld electronic device.
2. Background Information
Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones, and the like. Many handheld electronic devices also feature wireless communication capability, although many such handheld electronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional without communication with other devices.
Such handheld electronic devices are generally intended to be portable, and thus are of a relatively compact configuration in which keys and other input structures often perform multiple functions under certain conditions. For instance, a given key, when pressed, may input a lower case letter, and additionally may input a capital letter when combined with a <SHIFT> key, and further may input a digit or a symbol when combined with an <ALT> key. While such key configurations have been generally effective for their intended purposes, such key configurations have not, however, been without limitation.
Certain data entry applications require the input to be in the form of a specific combination of numeric and/or alphabetic characters in a given arrangement. For instance, if the data field requires a certain arrangement of digits and capital letters, a user must combine key entries with appropriate <ALT> and <SHIFT> keys, which can become cumbersome. As an example, a Canadian postal code is required to be in the form of six alternating alphabetic (A) and numeric (N) characters, with a space between the third and fourth characters, thus ANA NAN. An American zip code is required to be in a form having either five numeric characters, thus NNNNN, or must include the five numeric characters plus an additional four numeric characters separated by a hyphen from the aforementioned five numeric characters, thus NNNNN-NNNN.